Hw Help 1A.11

[Bita Ghanei 1F]

In the spectrum of atomic hydrogen, several lines are generally classified together as belonging to a series (for example, Balmer series or Lyman series, as shown in Fig. 1A.10). What is common to the lines within a series that makes grouping them together logical?

Could someone please explain this to me? Thanks in advance!

[WesleyWu_1C]

The thing that is common to the lines within a series is that the lines in the same series all have to do with an electron falling down to the same energy level. For example, in the Balmer Series, those lines all have the electron fall down to n=2 energy level. In the Lyman Series, those lines have the electron fall down to the n=1 energy level. In addition, since the electrons would fall down to the same energy level, then that means that the frequency that would be emitted would all be in the same region. For example, the lines of the Balmer Series are all in the visible region and the lines of Lyman Series are all in the U.V. region.

[EMurphy_2L]

lines are drawn by frequency and the frequency happens to show up in groups because there are only very specific energy levels that can exist (n=1, n=2, etc) and none between
so the groupings show different values of n